A 47-year-old woman was rushed to hospital after collapsing and suffering fits, having taken a cocktail of herbal remedies and drinking too much water (file image)

Specialists at Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said their patient’s brush with death highlights the potential dangers of a New Year health kick.

Writing in the online journal BMJ Case Reports, they warned specifically against consuming excessive amounts of fluid, or using alternative remedies without consulting your doctor.

The previously fit and well 47-year-old woman had been consuming more fluids and herbal medicines than usual, including valerian root, over the New Year period.

Valerian root is used in alternative medicine to treat sleep problems, and other uses, not proven via research include treating anxiety, stress, depression, ADHD, chronic fatigue and the symptoms of the menopause.

The patient was rushed to hospital after becoming confused and grinding her teeth for an hour.

The 47-year-old then collapsed and suffered a fit, her doctors reported.

Her family told doctors she had been unusually thirsty in the few days before she collapsed, and was drinking more water and tea than usual.

And they said she had been taking herbal remedies for various minor ailments.

Excessive water intake as a way of ‘purifying and cleansing’ the body is also a popular regime with the belief that harmful waste products can thus be washed from the body

Doctors at Milton Keynes University Hospital, where the woman was treated, warned other people to take care before embarking on their New Year health kick

However, they caution that without further evidence for this or a mechanism to provide a scientific basis, no definite conclusions can be drawn on whether the valerian root had any role in the conditions developed by these patients.

Nevertheless, they say “the complementary medicine market is very popular in the UK and the concept of the New Year ‘detox’ with all-natural products is appealing to those less concerned with evidence-based medicine and more with complementary medicine”.

“Excessive water intake as a way of ‘purifying and cleansing’ the body is also a popular regime with the belief that harmful waste products can thus be washed from the body.”

However, they warn that “despite marketing suggesting otherwise, all-natural products are not without side effects”.